Antrim – New England's Narrow Road

Fall Harvest at New Hampshire Farm Stand

Tenney farm stand — Tenney Farms, Antrim New Hampshire

One day recently I took a drive over to Antrim (NH) to get some photos around Gregg Lake. On the way home I had to stop at my favorite farm stand and see what they had to offer. I had my camera, so I decided to take some pictures while I shopped.

Tenney Farm is located on Rt. 202 (Main St. in Antrim) so you can’t miss it if you are driving through the area. When I lived in Antrim, I bought all my perennials there. In fact I still go there to replenish my yard each year as their plants always do well.

But Fall is possibly the best time to visit the farm. When I was there, the ice cream stand was still open, they still had corn for sale. And of course they had pumpkins and squash… lots and lots of squash.

squash and gourds for sale — Just inside the door

I was in a bit of a hurry to get home so I didn’t buy as much as I should have – the peppers were so beautiful. All I can manage to grow is jalepenos, so I should have loaded up from the pepper display where I think they offered every kind imaginable. I didn’t even see the eggplant but I’ll get some when I return there this week.

farm vegetables peppers — The Veggie Display

What amazed me the most was the variety of pumpkins / squash. I bought an acorn, butternut and spaghetti squash and have eaten the acorn which was delicious. I don’t know the names of everything, but I did discover that the flattened pumpkins are called “Cinderella”.

cinderella pumpkins — Cinderella Pumpkins

I read on Tenney’s FaceBook page that their hours are changing for fall, and then they will eventually close for winter. I think they are open until around Thanksgiving, because they sell turkeys.

For now, I am enjoying the squash and the fall harvest.

A Trip to The Lake to Photograph Fall

fall foliage photography — Orange Leaves at Gregg Lake

I was finally able to take a ride around the area where I live in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, and take some fall pictures. One of my favorite places to photograph is near a lake in Antrim. It’s usually quiet, and the scenery is very pretty at any time of year, but fall can be a great time to get photos.

We’d had some nasty rainy weather just about the time I noticed that the autumn color was really nice. I hate when that happens. The foliage brightens and then leaves us all to quickly as it is, and we don’t need the weather to knock the leaves off even earlier. But what can you do?

Fortunately I had driven along Rt. 202 to the computer repair shop in Antrim and my son was riding with me. I brought the camera and asked him to take pictures of anything that looked good along the way. And he got some pretty good images.

Then I went back up to Antrim to specifically visit Gregg Lake. But by the time there was good enough weather, the leaves were looking a bit gone by. And sure enough, when I got to the lake, it wasn’t too wonderful color wise. But I did take a bunch of photos anyway, like the one of the orange leaves headlining this post. I made it into a poster and will add it to other items in my Fall Colors online store.

I had a nice and peaceful visit to my old stomping grounds, and even ran into an old friend who was walking her dogs. Fall is still looking pretty good as I write this, but shortly the season will be ending, and we know what comes next!

Our Local Lake (Sea) Plane

Each year when the weather begins to warm and the ice on the lake melts (don’t have that problem this year!) the sound of the local “sea” plane fills our skies over Antrim, New Hampshire. I no longer live there, but I’m close enough that I will go back to take my son to swim in Gregg Lake and visit with our old friends, and most likely I will get to see the plane either take off or land on the lake. If not, I may hear it buzzing overhead.

I don’t know the man who owns the plane, but I’ve heard that he owns this little piece of land on the inlet that goes into the lake and that is where he keeps the plane in summer. For a short time one summer, I rented the house just beyond the one in the photo and the kids and I would see the plane passing by the cottage on it’s way to the lake for takeoff.

Shortly after I had moved to Antrim (the first time) I took my son and his friend up to the lake to swim and the plane come in for a landing! That was fun. The boys totally enjoyed it.

Gregg Lake is pretty small, so I imagine the plane owner can only take off and land when it’s not too busy with watercraft and fishermen.

This photo of the plane was taken in October 2008. For more pictures of fall from this area, check out my Fall Foliage Season post.

Visiting a Sugar Shack in Antrim, New Hampshire

The weekend of the Sugar Shack open houses always takes me by surprise. This past weekend (March 19 & 20) was the official Maple Syrup Producers Open House. I have missed going for many years because I had no one to go with and it’s just not fun to go alone, but I recently ran out of real maple syrup (the only kind I will eat) and needed to buy some. It turned out that my daughter and her boyfriend were over on Sunday to have dinner and my daughter mentioned seeing the sign at Old Pound Road for syrup. And, believe it or not she wanted to go! She doesn’t like the real syrup so I figured she wouldn’t care about it, but we ended up going and I got myself a quart of syrup for $20.
We went to a Sugar House that we visited a few years ago, run by Charles Levesque on Old Pound Road in Antrim, New Hampshire. He had quite a crowd and we waited outside for the first group of people to leave and then went inside where he had a big fire going under his reducing pan (not the official name of it – but the place where the sap gets boiled down- I think it’s an evaporator pan) and he passed out little, hot cups of fresh syrup to try, along with muffins made with syrup instead of sugar. We watched as he poured a huge pan of syrup into a big strainer and then sat down to fill the plastic bottles that he sells. He answered questions while we ate muffins and got sticky tasting the samples and then we bought our bottles and left. I bought a bottle of Grade A Dark Amber because I like the dark syrup for it’s strong maple flavor, but of course I will eat any! I am spoiled and won’t touch the “fake” stuff any more.
The syrup is graded according to its coloring and at the beginning of the season (Feb.-April around here, depending on the weather) it is lighter and that is the Grade A Light Amber and as the season progresses the grading changes. Read more here about the syrup grades in NH.
Most people recognize the buckets hanging on trees to collect sap, but if you are driving around and see these funny looking plastic tubes coming out of trees – that would be another way of collecting sap that uses gravity to run it into big buckets.
It’s quite a job and it has a short season. As Mr. Levesque pointed out, the seemingly high price of real maple syrup does not make the Sugar Shack owners rich. For all the hours spent and supplies needed he said he ends up making around very little money…. I can’t remember what he said, but I think it was around $2.oo an hour.
I don’t eat pancakes very often, but I use the syrup as a sweetener for my tea. And I think I will try making some muffins.
I also found out that he sells his syrup at the Antrim Market until he runs out, usually around August.

If you are interested, read this post by some people who are making their own maple syrup from trees in the yard house.